On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers demolished a Palestine home and a barn in the Wad Al-Jouz neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
Media sources said several military vehicles and bulldozers invaded the neighborhood after the army surrounded it and demolished a home owned by the local Totah family.
The sources said twelve family members lived in the 120 square/meter home and added that the soldiers also demolished the wall surrounding the property and the family’s barn where they kept their horses, in addition to uprooting many trees on their land.
The family said this is the fourth and last home they own, and gets demolished by the Israeli occupation authorities.
In March, the army demolished three homes owned by Palestinians from the Totah family and at least two homes that have been demolished since 2015.
Totah family members repeatedly tried to obtain construction permits for the homes built at least 25 years ago to accommodate the expanding family, but the occupation authorities denied their permit applications and appeals.
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property.
Meanwhile, Israeli colonizers continue to occupy Palestinian lands, in addition to the escalating assault, including uprooting and bulldozing the Palestinian farmlands and the constant destruction of their property.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
